Hello everyone, welcome back to “Survival Guide”, this time with a new tank review! The latest line of tanks introduced into the game were the new Swedish Tank Destroyers and a line of Medium and Heavy tanks. The heavy tanks are a beast unto themselves, featuring amazing turrets with lackluster guns. The Tank Destroyers introduced a new mechanic call “siege mode” which allows the tier 8, 9 and 10 tanks to do some pretty cool thing with its gun handling. And the Tank Destroyers also feature some impressive guns at tier 8 through 10 with some of the highest base penetration to their standard ammunition in the game for their tier. With the latest patch, Wargaming introduced a premium tank destroyer which acts as a ‘hybrid’ of sorts, combining the tier 8 and 9 tank destroyers into a tank known as the STRV-S1 (or, S1). So, what do you need to know?

How do I play the STRV-S1?

Unlike the
VIIIUDES 03
, the S1 has 30mm of armor instead of 20mm. This is a MASSIVE difference! This means that tanks with a gun caliber of 90mm or less need to aim at your weak spots, instead of just aiming at the tank. Further, instead of moving at 5 kph while in siege mode as the Udes 03 can, you move at 8 kph, which again is a massive difference and adds some flexibility. And, you also gain an ever so slight advantage to your damage per minute.

However, this comes at a cost. You lose 20 kph off your top speed when comparing to the Udes while moving forward, and 5 kph when comparing to moving backwards. You also lose the ability to elevate your gun in a manner that lets you shoot over terrain easily. Acceleration can be a bit harder to come by, so you’ll need to move earlier than you might have considered in the Udes.

The S1 is a pure sniper, but can be more useful in close engagements than the Udes when top tier. The gun’s penetration means very little premium rounds need to be loaded, usually only to help deal with a
XMaus
or
XType 5 Heavy
. If you’ve been training your tank in camouflage then you can often fire safely in the open to about 375 meters against everyone but tanks with maximum view range skills IF your crew is trained to 100% camouflage for all crew members.

You thrive in open maps, and do not suffer on those maps even up against tanks two tiers your better as your gun has great penetration and accuracy values. You will suffer somewhat in city engagements, or many of the newer maps which feature only three real fighting paths, as flanking in the top tier Swedish Tank Destroyers are very awkward since it’s hard to fire your gun outside of siege mode. You will also suffer if you’re an impatient player, as this features of the tank are exceptionally punishing if you rush to do anything other than get into your optimal position.

Setting up Your S1

Equipment: Medium Tank Gun Rammer, Binoculars, Camouflage Net. You could also consider running ventilation over a camouflage net, but this will decrease your “safe” firing zone to about 400 meters.

Consumables: Small Medical Pack, Small Repairs Pack, Automatic Extinguisher (Auto Ext). This tank will catch fire to frontal hits. As the Auto Ext decreases your chance of fire by 10%, this is obvious to use. If you wish to “try hard” and run the premium consumable “food,” I would drop the medical pack.

Will It be used in Competitive Play?

I doubt this tank will have great utility apart from training your crew in public battles or random stronghold skirmishes where it can be strong due to random map rotations. However, when the coming map is known the Udes 03 features better mobility and the DPM difference really isn’t noticeable. The German premium tank Destroyer, the
VIIIRheinmetall Skorpion G
, features a gun which has better alpha damage, the ability to overmatch many tanks with weak armor, a full turret, and comparable mobility. This tank, the S1, is not a strong contender for Clan Wars-like environments.

Yay, or Nay?

So, should you get it? I would, but only if you’ve already unlocked and elited the Udes 03 and enjoy playing it. It can be an excellent credit maker, and with only 3 crew members your crew will train very quickly.